How I have kept myself consistent with training & nutrition - even though my spirit animal is a sedentary walrus.

30 time-tested hacks I've used to get myself out of the fridge and into the gym.

Staying consistent with health and fitness is challenging. A lot of the time our environment and our routines are working against us.

This is a list of 30 strategies and hacks I have personally used over the past 25 years to help myself stay on track. 20 of them relate to nutrition and 10 to training - probably because nutrition is the thing I have struggled with more than getting to the gym (which most of the time I do actually enjoy!)

20 strategies I have used personally to help with eating healthier and/or staying in a calorie deficit.

1. Make off-plan foods awkward
If they’re in the house, they’ll get eaten. Environment beats willpower every time. I’ve got a treat box in the boot of my car. Most of the time when I fancy a treat, I can’t be arsed to walk downstairs to get it. This is about putting small barriers between you and the things which aren’t ideal for your goals. It’s still there if you really want it.

2. Use water strategically
If hunger is distracting you, or stopping you from sleeping, a big glass of water (or two) can help.

3. Use pre-bought soup as a base for a stew
Add any veg that needs using up. Slow cook it.
That makes a cheap, filling, vitamin-packed, low-calorie stew. Add protein if needed.

4. The love chocolate rule
Love chocolate? You can have it — but only if you eat a piece of fruit with it.

5. Flavoured teas in the evening
Surprisingly effective for killing a sweet tooth.

6. Prep food the night before to take to work or have ready in the fridge at home
Prepped food = fewer bad decisions when hungry and rushed the next day.

7. Never shop hungry
Eat a proper meal before your weekly food shop. Maybe even overeat. You’ll buy way less ‘off-plan’ foods if you feel like a walrus waddling around Tesco.

8. Delete takeaway apps
Remove the temptation. You can reinstall them if you really need to.

9. Order like you cook
When eating out (or ordering in) aim for meals that resemble your home cooking:
protein, veg, natural carbs.

10. Share dessert
Half the calories and infinitely more enjoyable when shared. If you’ve got no-one to share it with then eat the whole thing, you deserve it.

11. Mainly eat foods that would rot
If it wouldn’t go off in a week, be suspicious.

12. Cook once, eat twice
Double portions. Tomorrows lunch sorted. Freezer stocked.

13. Choose carbs that grew in the ground
Potatoes, oats, rice, root veg.

14. Eat the rainbow (not Fruit Loops)
More colours = wider range of vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients. Aim for colour variety when choosing veg.

15. Go big on low-calorie veg
Big bowls of veg in the form of soups, stews, and salads are gold.
Full stomach = less food noise. A huge bowl of salad or a pan of soup is a great go to if you, like me, are a grazer who wanders into the kitchen 100 times per day, just to make sure the foods still there.

16. Bin liquid calories
They barely register as food, spike blood sugar, and make you hungrier later. And you’ll save money at the Dentist.

17. Eat slower than you want to
Hunger hormones lag behind chewing. Give them time to catch up. Make eating a slow, relaxing experience.

18. Plan one small treat per day
One planned treat beats 5 unplanned ones when you hit that post 6pm danger zone.

19. Be boring on purpose
Default meals you know work are brilliant for long-term adherence.

20. Brush your teeth after dinner
Signals “we’re done eating” and helps shut the food noise down.

10 things to help you get consistent with training (especially when life gets busy)

21. Have a plan before you arrive at the gym
Written down. Phone or notebook.
No wandering around the gym aimlessly.

22. Don’t have a plan before you arrive

No plan? No worries. Attendance beats performance (at first.) Just turn up and do whatever is easy and freely available. If consistency is the goal, just being there counts.

23. Make the gym your headspace
Headphones on. Music or podcasts you love turned up.
This is your time.

24. Train with someone
Friend or coach — accountability changes everything.

25. Prep your gym kit the night before
Lay it out on the sofa next to your gym bottle and your headphones. Zero friction. No morning excuses. You mean business. Get up and get at it.

26. Train first, start the day second
Morning trainers tend to be the most consistent.
Mood and productivity usually improve for the rest of the day too.

27. Don’t wait for motivation
The buzz comes after training — not before (maybe during if you’re lucky.) Don’t wait for some magical pre-gym motivation to save you. Chase that post-gym buzz.

28. Have a ‘busy-gym’ fallback workout
Leg press • Assisted pull-up • Chest press
5 sets of 8 reps on each. In and out.

If the gym really is full of boggers – find a quiet corner, clean a matt and do a 20-minute bodyweight matt workout.

29. Upgrade your gym kit occasionally
Feeling good walking into the gym matters more than people realise. If you are wearing 10-year-old kit that you found at the back of a drawer you are signalling to your brain that the gym is not a priority. Spruce up your gym kit, spruce up your attitude to training.

30. Schedule training like a meeting
Put it in your calendar. Set reminders.
Give it the same respect as work commitments.

Final thought

Most of my clients are successful in business and family life. They have faced obstacles and made sacrifices to get there. For some reason with healthy eating and gym a lot of people think it is supposed to feel easy and you should want to do it before you do it. That is not the case. As with other things you need to strategize, game the system where you can and push through discomfort to get to where you want to be.

Drop me a line if you need some help with that!